Waiting for the 2018 MBP

[alwaysbeincontact]

32+ Gig Ram
improved connection with dual/triple 5k monitors
headphone jack would be nice

need a real graphics card in it to so people can game like on a PC

 

[socialwill]

Last year Bloomberg had a largely accurate rumour about a month prior. This year nothing.

Ok, but the rumors on what is coming with macOS and iOS have also been very light. Last year if I recall the rumor mill was almost in overdrive on what would be in iOS 11 and macOS, and that still may happen as it is only Wednesday.

Personally, I am ok with not having tons of rumors out there. Usually all it does is build up the hype machine past what is reasonable

 

[haydn!]

Spec bumps for hardware tend to create less buzz than full redesigns, so little noise on the Mac front doesn’t bother me too much.

And for the software side... there was a rumour a few months back that this year, most new features were being dropped from both MacOS and iOS in favour of a focus on stability and bug fixing. So that could account for lack of rumours of their genuinely is very little new coming.

 

[gadgetfreaky]

New Apple laptops about to drop Monday. Hoping for the following with (estimated chance of occurring )
1) Shrunken Bezels for 16-17 inch screen in 15 inch footprint (5%)
2) Hex core chips (80%)
3) decent GPU for VR/AR (70%)
4) FaceID on Mac (30%)
5) improved keyboard/Touch Bar/ smaller trackpad (30%)

 

[EugW]

New Apple laptops about to drop Monday. Hoping for the following with (estimated chance of occurring )
1) Shrunken Bezels for 16-17 inch screen in 15 inch footprint (5%)
2) Hex core chips (80%)
3) decent GPU for VR/AR (70%)
4) FaceID on Mac (30%)
5) improved keyboard/Touch Bar/ smaller trackpad (30%)

My prediction of the above:

1) No
2) Yes (99%)
3) Not quite. I expect similar GPUs with a minor MHz bump and "X" added to the name. Radeon Pro 565X?
4) No
5) No. Well, maybe a slight keyboard tweak, but nothing noticeable externally.

 

[gadgetfreaky]

My prediction of the above:

1) No
2) Yes (99%)
3) Not quite. I expect similar GPUs with a minor MHz bump and "X" added to the name. Radeon Pro 565X?
4) No
5) No. Well, maybe a slight keyboard tweak, but nothing noticeable externally.

I think it's unlikely they do 3 years with no real upgrades on the GPU especially when there are other paths they can go down. You may be a tad too skeptical.

 

[simonmet]

BTO now says delivery from the 5th to Australia, but they still seem happy to send you a standard model the following day. Go figure.

My guess: new models likely and available straight away-ish.

 

[afir93]

Something else to consider is that iOS 11.4 has released yesterday, but macOS 13.3.5 hasn't yet. Now this could just be coincidence and maybe it's coming today or tomorrow, but if it doesn't arrive till Friday then there's a good chance they are holding it back till Monday because it contains hints towards new Macs (after all, this would be the release that any Macs released next week would be shipping with, so the final version has to contain hints towards them whereas the beta versions didn't need to).

This would especially be plausible since both iOS 11.4.1 and macOS 13.3.6 both just dropped, meaning that macOS 13.3.5 is most likely finished as otherwise this beta would probably have been for the version number 13.3.5 instead of 13.3.6. Also with AirPlay 2 and Messages in the Cloud both being cross-device features, releasing the iOS and macOS update for these features simultaneously would have made a lot of sense, but they didn't do that.

So overall this is another strong indication of new Macs being announced next week (assuming 13.3.5 doesn't drop today or tomorrow).

 

[The Mercurian]

BTO now says delivery from the 5th to Australia, but they still seem happy to send you a standard model the following day. Go figure.

My guess: new models likely and available straight away-ish.

They have probably computed the odds of a standard model buyer returning a machine because they release a new one versus the expsensive models. Odds are a standard model buyer doens't pay too much attention to new models I guess.

 

[EugW]

I think it's unlikely they do 3 years with no real upgrades on the GPU especially when there are other paths they can go down. You may be a tad too skeptical.

Well, blame AMD, as they did exactly that.

400 —> 500 —> 500X

Mobile true Vega seems like a product to come later.

Something else to consider is that iOS 11.4 has released yesterday, but macOS 13.3.5 hasn't yet. Now this could just be coincidence and maybe it's coming today or tomorrow, but if it doesn't arrive till Friday then there's a good chance they are holding it back till Monday because it contains hints towards new Macs (after all, this would be the release that any Macs released next week would be shipping with, so the final version has to contain hints towards them whereas the beta versions didn't need to).

This would especially be plausible since both iOS 11.4.1 and macOS 13.3.6 both just dropped, meaning that macOS 13.3.5 is most likely finished as otherwise this beta would probably have been for the version number 13.3.5 instead of 13.3.6. Also with AirPlay 2 and Messages in the Cloud both being cross-device features, releasing the iOS and macOS update for these features simultaneously would have made a lot of sense, but they didn't do that.

So overall this is another strong indication of new Macs being announced next week (assuming 13.3.5 doesn't drop today or tomorrow).

Agreed. I was thinking along the same lines. The other related but perhaps less likely possibility is there are OS features in 10.14 that will come to 10.13. I say less likely though because it would need to be beta’d plus probably come at the same time as 10.14 this fall.

 

[MrGunnyPT]

Well, blame AMD, as they did exactly that.

400 —> 500 —> 500X

Mobile true Vega seems like a product to come later.


Agreed. I was thinking along the same lines. The other related but perhaps less likely possibility is there are OS features in 10.14 that will come to 10.13. I say less likely though because it would need to be beta’d plus probably come at the same time as 10.14 this fall.

Problem is NVIDIA doesn't have a decent GPU for the TDP Apple needs.

Plus, all Apple apps like Final Cut and what not are optimized for AMD as well..

 

[c0ppo]

CPU upgrade is a 100% happening. Either at WWDC, or later on. Whenever Apple updates.
Face ID and slimmer bezels would require a redesign, and we won't see that until 2020 or even 2021. So 0% chance for that.
GPU is the current problem, no VEGA for mobile yet. But one can hope that AMD saved them for Apple first. But slim chance, 1% I would say. @EugW is probably right with his predictions.

And keyboard... 90% it will be silently improved. But will it be enough? No one can tell. 9,99% that they will say Butterfly v3, and move on from that as fast as possible (because of all bad press lately). 0,01% that they remove butterfly keyboard. But not even that, it's just me foolishly hoping for that

And Touch Bar... Well, since it's just a spec update, of course that there are no rumours. Nothing really interesting.
But since we have seen 0 MBP 15 pics without TB, I'm 99,99% sure that there will still only be TB version of 15" MBP.

And that kinda makes me sad. And angry...
Ah well, Apple is just being Apple

 

[gadgetfreaky]

CPU upgrade is a 100% happening. Either at WWDC, or later on. Whenever Apple updates.
Face ID and slimmer bezels would require a redesign, and we won't see that until 2020 or even 2021.

Not sure why people thing FaceID is gonna be such a long delay when TouchID wasn't that big of a wait and was a much bigger form factor change (they added a bloody touch bar)

I agree it's hard to see a Bezel reduction which with zero leaks but Apple has really cracked down on even iPhone leaks. So we may get a surprise with Bezel reductions. In truth they could just reduce the bezel without that big of a form factor change. just the screen gets a larger share of the top clamshell.

 

[MacRazySwe]

Not sure why people thing FaceID is gonna be such a long delay when TouchID wasn't that big of a wait...

TouchID was released in 2013. The first (and so far only) Mac that supports it was released in 2016.

I’d say three years is quite a long wait, and please do recall that it’s still not available across the lineup, well actually not even across the entire MBP lineup, but limited to Touch Bar MBPs.

 

[gadgetfreaky]

TouchID was released in 2013. The first (and so far only) Mac that supports it was released in 2016.

I’d say three years is quite a long wait, and please do recall that it’s still not available across the lineup, well actually not even across the entire MBP lineup, but limited to Touch Bar MBPs.

yeah 3 years is longer than I thought...they did wait to do it with the touch bar tho which is a lot more complex I'm hoping.

in short, hex core along is probably not enough for me to update but either reduced bezels or a legit GPU or Face ID would do it.

 

[HerbertDerb]

Probably no-one cares what i am hoping but here it is, with probability that it might happen:

1. Tweak/permanent fix for the butterfly keyboard. (90%)
2. 15" to 6-core. (95%)
3. Even better contrast and brighter screen, fix the pink tint issue (40%?) Just for the panel, no reduced bezels etc.
4. Stacked battery design, same that the MB has(20%)
5. Fixing the price in EU. Because in 2016 € was weaker to $ what it is now. (20%)
6. 32GB ram (0.00000000000000001%)

If they manage to do the first 3, i will buy one.

 

[c0ppo]

Not sure why people thing FaceID is gonna be such a long delay when TouchID wasn't that big of a wait and was a much bigger form factor change (they added a bloody touch bar)

As you already read, it took 3 years. And it was when MBP was up for redesign. So I still stand by my estimation, 2020/21. Those are years that we are likely to see a redesign.

I agree it's hard to see a Bezel reduction which with zero leaks but Apple has really cracked down on even iPhone leaks. So we may get a surprise with Bezel reductions. In truth they could just reduce the bezel without that big of a form factor change. just the screen gets a larger share of the top clamshell.

Apple has cracked down on leaks? On iPhone leaks? Have you missed leaks with 3 new iPhones for next release? And those came a few months ago. Cracked down on leaks?

And reducing bezels would also mean a redesign. So I'm still 99,99999% sure that won't happen next week

Probably no-one cares what i am hoping but here it is, with probability that it might happen:

1. Tweak/permanent fix for the butterfly keyboard. (90%)
2. 15" to 6-core. (95%)
3. Even better contrast and brighter screen, fix the pink tint issue (40%?) Just for the panel, no reduced bezels etc.
4. Stacked battery design, same that the MB has(20%)
5. Fixing the price in EU. Because in 2016 € was weaker to $ what it is now. (20%)

If they manage to do the first 3, i will buy one.

Actually, a lot of us from EU care. Like myself.
And your list is basically my list as well. Except maybe for the terraced battery, since those tend to loose battery capacity way faster then 'older' design. At least that is the case in MB terraced battery

 

[gadgetfreaky]

Apple has cracked down on leaks? On iPhone leaks? Have you missed leaks with 3 new iPhones for next release? And those came a few months ago. Cracked down on leaks?

And reducing bezels would also mean a redesign. So I'm still 99,99999% sure that won't happen next week

"Redesigns" are indeed every 3-4 four years which would be a while but you are using the term a bit broadly in my opinion. There is plenty of room on the top of the exiting Mac to fit a 3d Camera without a major redesign effort. And again, adding Touch ID wasn't just the touch ID but it was incorporated into a major redesign with the Touch "Bar" which was way more complicate than adding a camera that can fit on a 5 inch phone let alone a big laptop.

And yep they have cracked down on leaks- the "3 iPhones" leak was last year. Ming who is the best source of hardware leaks has stopped. Its just 3 months to the next iPhone and we don't really have the pace of leaks we had in prior years. So yes, it's a crack down.

PS I feel bad for ya in the EU. I was there trying to buy some Apple stuff and in every country the price is ******* isane. Even Beats headphones are like 2x what you can get em for in the US. I suppose up to 20% of that is explained by VAT which is included (and not included in US prices) it appears to be only a small fraction of the price difference. I don't understand why Apple does that. Must be something more to it.

 

[adamjackson]

I honestly don't care at this point how crazy an upgrade it is. I just want a refresh. My MBP is starting to creak and act all curmudgeon-like. A daily drive since February 2014, really showing its age finally.

 

[c0ppo]

"Redesigns" are indeed every 3-4 four years which would be a while but you are using the term a bit broadly in my opinion. There is plenty of room on the top of the exiting Mac to fit a 3d Camera without a major redesign effort. And again, adding Touch ID wasn't just the touch ID but it was incorporated into a major redesign with the Touch "Bar" which was way more complicate than adding a camera that can fit on a 5 inch phone let alone a big laptop.

But when you look at it that way, they could have introduced touch ID into 2014 MBP. No TB, no redesign, nothing spectacular. Just a touch id where power button was. Engineering explained easy peasy way

Apple likes to introduce new features and things in redesigns. I'm not a long time Apple user, from 2008 or 2009 if I remember correctly. But only time I can think of that they made changes really fast was Macbook Air. But that is a whole other ball game...

We can agree to disagree?
Either way, we will soon find out

PS I feel bad for ya in the EU. I was there trying to buy some Apple stuff and in every country the price is ******* isane. Even Beats headphones are like 2x what you can get em for in the US. I suppose up to 20% of that is explained by VAT which is included (and not included in US prices) it appears to be only a small fraction of the price difference. I don't understand why Apple does that. Must be something more to it.

Dollar got strong, euro weak. Apple charges more. Dollar gets weak, euro strong, Apple changes nothing. Why do they do it? Well, it makes them more money. As simple as that

 

[gadgetfreaky]

Dollar got strong, euro weak. Apple charges more. Dollar gets weak, euro strong, Apple changes nothing. Why do they do it? Well, it makes them more money. As simple as that

The used currency changes to raise prices a while back. However, the Euro is like 1.16 as opposed to 1.05 a year or so ago. If I was a European I'd buy from Ebay to get US prices for Apple products (or find some other way) as sometimes the price difference would be upsetting if I lived in an EU country.

Also- try apple prices in Istanbul - it's even more crazy than prices in Paris, London or elsewhere. I broke a laptop there and it was like 4000 dollars or something for a base model.

 

[Sgt93]

I’m ready to upgrade. My Mid 09 MacBook Pro is finally ready to retire. It has been a great machine.

 

[MrGunnyPT]

Gonna wait out till July to pick up te new models, want to see some tear downs and feedback from the forums before putting my neck out.

 

[drewyboy]

Ok, but the rumors on what is coming with macOS and iOS have also been very light. Last year if I recall the rumor mill was almost in overdrive on what would be in iOS 11 and macOS, and that still may happen as it is only Wednesday.

Personally, I am ok with not having tons of rumors out there. Usually all it does is build up the hype machine past what is reasonable

As others have said, it's been expected that this is likely going to be a fix all the crap that hasn't been working well release. Snow Leopard for iOS.

 

[simonmet]

Apple hasn’t cracked down on leaks; indeed they’re part of Apple’s hype-building strategy. We already basically know everything about the next iPhones. We knew a lot about the Home Pod, likewise the iPad Pro and iMac Pro. We don’t usually hear much about minor spec bumps.